ain't just Japan that rocks

No, it is not just the island nation of Japan that has to deal with earthquakes, as we, here in Utica, found out early this morning.

Around 5:30 we were woken up to find our house sharing around us, the dogs jumping up on the bed, and bewilderment as to what the heck was happening.

Turns out that we were experiencing a 5.4 magnitude earthquake.

Seems that it was felt as far away as Bowling Green, KY and Paoli, IN.

It was a very strange experience, mostly just because it was hard to figure out exactly what was happening, and while it only lasted about 10 or 15 seconds, it sure felt a lot longer than that.

Short Ride

Just a short ride report, cause it was a short ride tonight. The last two days have been hard training days for me, so I needed a nice easy ride tonight.

I just rode near Utica on a beautiful spring evening, with tempratures around 75 degrees, but a strong south wind, it was nearly perfect (although riding south was kind of hard).



Here is a self-portrait at 20 miles per hour.





Some cows enjoying a late evening meal.

Backint hes addle

That's me, the left of the two orange guys, proudly sporting my Lug Bros. colors. We're going up a pass in our little mountain range. And we were taking it easy. That's my philosophy for this year, and I need to stick to it to avoid another injury. If I want to ride fast I need to give myself time to get ready. Especially in the hills. But there's nothing to complain about a leisurely climb. Believe me, I felt no desire to go faster. It's amazing how much more fun it is when you're not killing yourself! And you can always go fast going down!

Disaster

Though it was a good ride, I failed to finish it, as I got a flat tire while riding into Sellersburg, so here is Kate after she rescued me.

Finally

I know that it has been awhile since we posted, and that our thousands of adoring fans were wondering when the next exciting installment of this series was coming out, well, wait no more.


The past couple of weeks have been pretty crazy around here, what with my conference in Minneapolis, helping to organize another local conference, and a 12 hour roadtrip up to Earlham. Add to that all the rain that we have been getting (something like 300% above average), and I have not had much of a chance to ride outside.

Last night I finally got a chance to headout for a ride, and I wanted to get some pictures since everything is so green around here right now.

I rode out of Utica and headed up some of the roads between Sellersburg and Charlestown, the field is just outside of town and is currently covered in clover. The little stream is Pleasant Run and was the site of the first village in Clark County, called Springville (the town only lasted about 10 years and no traces of it are left).

The last picture is of some of the new lakes and ponds that have been popping up all over in fields and flooding roads.

So, hope this was worth the wait.